The PlayStation Recap – Fantastic Fest Edition

A respectable week for news and announcements, with a 50% discount on Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD for PlayStation Plus users, a fascinating creative dissection of PSN sidescroller Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken, an HD reinvention of PSP classic Mercury Meltdown, a Speed Channel TV premiere for GT Academy, a hefty Blu-ray-only bonus of Assassin’s Creed Revelation on PS3, an Austin meetup for PlayStation.Blog readers, new reading material for UNCHARTED fans, and a new milestone for The Tester Season 3 – get those votes in!

In other news, I really need to find the time to dive into Dead Island before the ICO & Shadow of the Collossus Collection steals my soul for the next few weeks… but I’m all tangled up in Resident Evil 4 HD and Burnout Crash! Help! We’re not even in October yet!

What are PlayStation.Blog readers playing?

I’m playing: Resident Evil 4 HD, Call of Duty: Black Ops – Rezurrection DLC

I’m watching: Star Trek: Voyager on Netflix

I’m reading: The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

Most-Watched Video of the Week: ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection: Behind-the-Scenes Preview

The 10 Most-Viewed Posts of the Week

PlayStation Store Update — A robust lineup of games this week, including Resident Evil 4 HD, Burnout Crash!, Cubixx HD, Saints Row 2 digital, the NBA 2K12 demo, Fallout: New Vegas – Lonesome Road DLC, Persona 2: Innocent Sin for PSP and more.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection DLC Brings 5 New Zombie Maps Tonight — I’m a huge fan of the co-op Nazi Zombies mode in Black Ops, so scoring five more maps (four of which are my personal favorites from World at War) is a major coup. I know what I’ll be playing this weekend…

DC Universe Online for PS3 Is Going Free-To-Play — This announcement sparked vigorous discussion, for understandable reasons. Luckily, Sony Online Entertainment did a nice job breaking down the consequences of going free-to-play — and how it’s going to benefit all DCUO players.

Battlefield 3 Expansions to Hit PS3 First, Open Beta on PSN 9/29 — Lucky PS3 owners get a Battlefield 3 Open Beta next week and a head start on all upcoming major DLC expansions.

NEW PlayStation 3 UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception Bundle Coming Soon — If you’re in the market for a PS3, this is a steal. Your $299 gets you a high-capacity 320GB PS3, a copy of UNCHARTED 3, and a month of PlayStation Plus. It’s like getting UNCHARTED 3 for free!

Sack It To Me: Still PlayStation Move-ing — A handy Move Pack FAQ, new user creations, and a job opening highlight this week’s LittleBigPlanet news.

Ruin for PS Vita: Lairs, Relics, and the Social Web — I enjoyed writing this in-depth survey of Ruin’s ambitious social plan. Pulling contextual storylines out of multiplayer interactions sounds so cool, doesn’t it?

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection: Bonus Content, Trophies Revealed — This remastered collection finally arrives on PS3 this Tuesday, and includes several behind-the-scenes videos showcasing early prototypes and even discussion of canceled multiplayer game NICO.

Hey Canada: An Epic UNCHARTED 3 Contest Just For You — Entries are closed. But this contest caught my attention because the winning Canadian will compete in an adventure against other finalists in the Arabian Desert. Now that’s a contest!

Burnout Crash! Explodes onto PSN Today — This new PSN game transforms the series’ fan-favorite Crash mode into a full-blown arcade-inspired experience. If you’ve tried the demo or the full game, let us know what you think!